The Armadillo team has gotten halfway through the course for the $350,000 Level 1 prize in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, and the Module 1 lunar lander is now being prepared for the return trip. If it makes that trip back and fulfills all the conditions for the competition, the prize is theirs.

Right now, the team is fueling up and checking out the lines. If everything looks OK, the second launch could come within just a few minutes.

Update: Launch commentator Miles O'Brien quotes space boss Joseph Boyle as saying that the Armadillo team is checking out a "little problem" with the fuel line - similar to the problem encountered this morning.

Last edited by JesseD on Sat Oct 27, 2007 8:34 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Cosmic log reports that the flight time was only 83 seconds... too short. it actually touched down, but then tipped and fell. Carmack is said to have opted to try again tomorrow rather than attempt another rughed flight today.

And the wait begins again. I've been looking at the clock most of the morning and subtracting two hours. Figure the gate opens again at 8:00, which is in a little more than an hour. Figure another hour after that for first launch attempt.

Considering that they started out yesterday with both Pixel and Mod 1 on the truck, I was thinking that if there's any trouble this time around they could in theory pull Mod 1 off the pad and still have enough time to put Pixel up to the plate for an attempt.

Much better video of both flights. Seems that the rocket exhaust is distorted a bit near the nozzle on the return flight, probably from the cracked chamber. Truck is in the way for the second landing when it tipped but pulls away to show Mod 1 on its side. Was slow to load for me.